Advance opinion polls predicting a new regime in Ottawa and more of the same in Toronto proved accurate Monday night as results began to pour in for Ontario's municipal elections.
In Ottawa, with more than 70 per cent of the polls reporting, two-term Mayor Bob Chiarelli had just 15 per cent of the vote, trailing newcomers Larry O'Brien with 47.6 per cent and Alex Munter with 36 per cent.
Mr. Chiarelli was the last candidate to begin campaigning and had trailed in the polls for most of the race.
Mr. O'Brien is chairman of Calian Technologies Ltd., an Ottawa-based company that sells technology services to industry and government.
He had been running neck and neck with Mr. Munter for weeks, first campaigning against Mr. Chiarelli's vision for light-rail transit in Ottawa and then turning against Mr. Munter's left-leaning politics.
In Toronto, Mayor David Miller won his second municipal election handily, taking more than half the vote in his run against city councillor Jane Pitfield and former Liberal Party of Canada president Stephen LeDrew.
Mr. Miller had been expected to win despite some criticism that his first term saw little progress in reshaping the city.
The result was decisive in Mississauga, where 85-year-old Mayor Hazel McCallion has been in office since 1978.
With 144 of 199 polls reporting, she had 91.3 per cent of the votes while her two competitors had only a few per cent each.
Hurricane Hazel, as she's called by supporters, has few rivals for her job and no longer bothers to campaign.
Ms. McCallion was seeking her 11th straight term as mayor and said she'll keep running until voters kick her out of office.
"Voters really decide the age that an elected person should retire," she told TV station CP24.
"I'm just as excited today as I was in 1978 about being mayor of this great city."
In Mississauga's Ward 6, former Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish had 48.6 per cent of the vote in her bid for a city council seat, and a lead of about 10 percentage points over her closest rival with 144 of 199 polls reporting.
In Hamilton, with half the polls reporting, incumbent Mayor Larry Di Ianni was sweating the early results with a 30-vote lead over newcomer Fred Eisenberger.
In Sault Ste. Marie, with 87 per cent of polls reporting, Mayor John Rowswell was in the lead with 13,611 votes compared to Debbie Amaroso's 7,238.
In North Bay, with 28 per cent of polls reporting, Mayor Victor Fedeli had 66 per cent of the vote, ahead of Stan Lawlor.
In Haldimand County, Mayor Marie Trainer was hoping anger over the ongoing aboriginal occupation in Caledonia wouldn't chase her from office.
Things have not been the same for the town's residents since Six Nations protesters began occupying a plot of disputed land on Feb. 28.
The matter is now being negotiated by aboriginal leaders and the provincial and federal governments, but Trainer could be the first political casualty for allowing the occupation to drag on.
It was the first time that voters in Ontario were electing their mayors, councillors and school trustees for four-year terms; municipal elections had previously been held every three years.
Several municipalities hosted election results online as the votes were tallied, including Toronto, Ottawa, Barrie, Chatham-Kent, Haldimand County, Hamilton, Kitchener, Markham, Mississauga, North Bay, Sarnia, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Catharines, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Waterloo and Windsor.